The Artist Inches Closer to Winning Best Picture with a win at the Producer's Guild

Tonight Hollywood made a declaration, the declaration was one of silence.  The silent film The Artist was named the best theatrical feature by the Producer's Guild of America (PGA). In the 22 year history of the award  15 of those winning films went on to win Best Picture.  The Artist winning this award tonight proves to provide it with some pretty good odds as the Academy Awards draw nearer.  The interesting thing about the more recent years is that from 2000 to the present four films did not match up (Moulin Rouge,The Aviator, Brokeback Mountain, and Little Miss Sunshine).  This Guild has however matched exactly since 2007.  I think The Artist is going to win this award easily this year.  I will say the film's name is not engraved on the statue, heck the nominations have not even been announced, but I predict it will do well.

Listed Below is the list of winners in the film and television categories:

Theatrical Feature: The Artist

Animated Feature: The Adventures of Tintin

TV Drama: Boardwalk Empire

TV Longform: Downton Abbey

TV Comedy: Modern Family

TV News: 60 Minutes

TV Sports: ESPN’s 30 for 30

TV Variety: The Colbert Report

TV Documentary: American Masters

TV Reality: The Amazing Race

The Producers Guild Forecasts a Bland Outlook at the Oscars

Today the Producer's Guild of America (PGA) helped narrow down the potential list of Best Picture nominees.  Sometimes this group throws in some commercial success stories, i.e. Bridesmaids this year.  Bridesmaids making this list shows that it is gaining more and more momentum towards a Best Picture nomination.  People have compared this film to The Hangover, but Bridesmaids has already done much better than that laugher, and this film is a serious threat.  The other surprise nominee that needs to be taken a little more seriously today is The Ides of March.  March has four Golden Globe nominations and could be a serious contender.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's nomination is less surprising because the producer is genius Scott Rudin, but this could help propel the film to more major nominations.

One film that is most likely out of the running is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.  If Potter could not get a nomination from this guild then the odds of a Best Picture nomination are pretty much dead in the water.  Two smaller films Drive and The Tree of Life were noticeably left off this list as well.  If this trend continues look for this to be one of the most generic celebrations of film. 

The not so surprising nominations were The Artist, The Descendants, The Help,Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, and War Horse.  These are the films that are out front for nominations, and to win the Best Picture honor.  Looking at this list of seven films makes me feel as though the the Academy (for the most part) like this Guild, will play it safe this year.  Films like Shame, Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, Martha Marcy May Marlene, and many other will be ignored. While I am excited for films like The Artist, Midnight in Paris and Hugo, I can't help but hope the Academy will take more risks.  The upcoming Guild awards will help paint a clearer picture, but I predict a very bland year at the Oscars  

THE ARTIST-Producer: Thomas Langmann

BRIDESMAIDS-Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend

THE DESCENDANTS-Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO-Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin

THE HELP-Producers: Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green

HUGO-Producers: Graham King, Martin Scorsese

THE IDES OF MARCH-Producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS-Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

MONEYBALL-Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt

WAR HORSE-Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg